Legend has it that Du Kang was inadvertently invented by a poor beggarboy named Du Kang. Not wanting to eat the ferment offered to his uncle (he thought Du Kang was suffering from indigestion, but it was just hunger), he threw it in a hole in a tree. At the next harvest, they noticed was a fragrant odor coming out of the hole in the tree. The uncle reached in and pulled out a piece of something sticky, like the millet bread they usually ate. The ferment had become that way after getting rained on. Du Kang discovered that the yellowish liquid that bled out of the food tasted quite good. They opened a store to make the liquor by fermenting the steamed millet powder with water. And the liquor came to be named after its inventor, Du Kang.

Today, people appreciate Du Kang for both its historic fame and reasonable price, as well as its taste. Du Kang is over 50 degrees (in China, the alcohol level for drinks is usually indicated by degrees or "Du." Liquors such as Du Kang and Chinese Mao Tai, Gu Jing Gong, Wu Liang Ye and Beijing Er Guo Tou are all rated above 50 degrees, in some cases as high as 62 degrees.) Du Kang is especially popular in northern China, where people enjoy getting additional warmth from the strong liquor.